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Hi Cameron,

That's seriously impressive that you called the 3:58 so early and was bang on. Good work and the encouragement throughout was excellent (except for the 35k to go! Although I'm sure that was done tongue in cheek!). It was a big old gathering following you, loads of pressure, so well done again. We never did stop off at your mum's for tea!

Defo will hit sub 4 next time.

Cheers!

Cameron13 wrote (see)

Hey Paxton,

As I was the "3 Parkruns left" 4hr pace flag I can confirm I passed over the finish line on a chip time 03:58:13. Interestingly I made the course a few hundred metres short which I know quite a few others did which probably got us all in a little bit early.

In terms of the 4hr group we where due to have 2 flags but sadly the second pacer was injured the week before so it was all runners around mine. I remember looking over my shoulder at 7 miles and realising the disaster that would happen if I f*cked up on time so I aimed to keep quite close to 9's for the remainder of the course.

Unlucky on your time, so close! Hopefully see you there next year for a sub 4!

Cheers
Gavin

Paxton Lee wrote (see)

Well done to everybody. Really good to see so many excellent times achieved by you all yesterday.

I came in at 04:03:10. I missed out my sub 4hr target but it is a 40 minute improvement on London last year so I'm pleased enough. I stayed with the 4hr pacer up until mile 22 then I felt him pull away I slowed down for a water station. I didn't have it in my legs or the will mentally to put in a burst to catch him up. I noticed my pace slipping and legs getting heavy around the open windy part of Carrington so I went for damage limitation then, slowly but surely rather than walk/run repeats.

Other thoughts from the day - I thought it was very well organised in the village (can't comment on parking/trams). Noticed a few people going into cones. One poor chap in the first mile got his legs tangled in a discarded bin bag and went over. I can't believe a fellow runner thought it was ok to leave that there on the course, tut tut. I didn't particular enjoy the opening five miles, the out and backs around Old Trafford. But once we got out onto the road it was great. The support was fantastic particularly through Sale, Altrincham and on the final three miles. I had a Spurs top on so I enjoyed some of the comments about that from the side, especially the chap with 200 metres to go who shouted "Spurs are sh*t mate" whilst clapping me. Following the pacer, it was quite congested in that bunch so, in future if I adopt a similar strategy I'll aim to hang back a bit further or go just ahead. The pacer did keep talking throughout and I liked the "Three parkruns to go" call, much better than his earlier effort of "35k left!" Does anyone know what time the 4hr pacer came in at? Early on he said our "landing" time would be 3:58. I liked the little jelly cubes but would have liked more isotonic drinks on offer. I kept in mind a piece of advice from here last week, from Panda I think, about taking the shortest line. My garmin came in at 26.08 miles, compared to London last year which was 26.6 miles!

At mile 23 I said to myself, never again. I had already previously signed up for Abingdon in October and was wondering how I could sell my place! Alas, 9am this morning I registered myself for the VLM ballot.

Cheers all for an enjoyable thread here and some great advice throughout. Well done again.

Panda - Ha, let's just agree that we all rock!

Sallymax - No way! Many apologies for ruining one of your photos and probably for the best that you can't get it onto the forum! I'll PM you my email address if it's a good one although no doubt I'm gurning whilst thinking about the next jelly baby.

I think I'll give it a couple of weeks before deciding about Abingdon but the thought of doing the training programme, etc, twice in a year at the moment feels like too much. We'll see. Prediction? Of course I'll bloody do it!

Yesterday was my second marathon, after doing London last year, and it is is amazing how different the experiences were. Both had their pros and cons. I wasn't in anywhere near as much pain or emotional state yesterday so I'm chuffed to have put that one to bed now more than anything.

Well done to everybody. Really good to see so many excellent times achieved by you all yesterday.

I came in at 04:03:10. I missed out my sub 4hr target but it is a 40 minute improvement on London last year so I'm pleased enough. I stayed with the 4hr pacer up until mile 22 then I felt him pull away I slowed down for a water station. I didn't have it in my legs or the will mentally to put in a burst to catch him up. I noticed my pace slipping and legs getting heavy around the open windy part of Carrington so I went for damage limitation then, slowly but surely rather than walk/run repeats.

Other thoughts from the day - I thought it was very well organised in the village (can't comment on parking/trams). Noticed a few people going into cones. One poor chap in the first mile got his legs tangled in a discarded bin bag and went over. I can't believe a fellow runner thought it was ok to leave that there on the course, tut tut. I didn't particular enjoy the opening five miles, the out and backs around Old Trafford. But once we got out onto the road it was great. The support was fantastic particularly through Sale, Altrincham and on the final three miles. I had a Spurs top on so I enjoyed some of the comments about that from the side, especially the chap with 200 metres to go who shouted "Spurs are sh*t mate" whilst clapping me. Following the pacer, it was quite congested in that bunch so, in future if I adopt a similar strategy I'll aim to hang back a bit further or go just ahead. The pacer did keep talking throughout and I liked the "Three parkruns to go" call, much better than his earlier effort of "35k left!" Does anyone know what time the 4hr pacer came in at? Early on he said our "landing" time would be 3:58. I liked the little jelly cubes but would have liked more isotonic drinks on offer. I kept in mind a piece of advice from here last week, from Panda I think, about taking the shortest line. My garmin came in at 26.08 miles, compared to London last year which was 26.6 miles!

At mile 23 I said to myself, never again. I had already previously signed up for Abingdon in October and was wondering how I could sell my place! Alas, 9am this morning I registered myself for the VLM ballot.

Cheers all for an enjoyable thread here and some great advice throughout. Well done again.

Cheers for the replies, Jonah, Panda and Xan.